Actor Liam Neeson has revealed that he once wanted to kill a black man with a cosh (a metal rod) after a friend of his was raped. Neeson, whose most recent filmography can be defined by a number of revenge thrillers, most notably the Taken series, is currently promoting his latest from the same genre, Cold Pursuit.

There’s something primal – God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions. I’ll tell you a story. This is true,” he said. He said many years ago, when he returned from an overseas trip, his friend, a woman whose name he refused to take, told him she had been raped

“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way. But my immediate reaction was… I asked, did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a black person,” Neeson said.

He then recalled his days wandering on the streets with a weapon hoping a black man would approach him and he would kill him. During the interview, the actor appeared remorseful as he looks back at his actions.

“I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I’d be approached by somebody – I’m ashamed to say that – and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some (Neeson gestures air quotes with his fingers) ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could… kill him.

The actor’s comment, however, did not go down well with the social media users, particulary the black community.

In the new film, the 66-year-old actor yet again plays a revenge seeking man. Neeson recounted the disturbing incident and its immediate aftermath in an interview with The Independent.